Princess Anne's rude remarks

Jul 20, 2007, 12:30 GMT

Britain's Princess Anne offended the residents of a Scottish town by rudely announcing that she planned to leave it "as soon as possible".

The Princess Royal was visiting Cumbernauld, in central Scotland, to open a £40 million shopping complex yesterday (20.07.07), when she reportedly made the comment to local councillor Bob Chadha.

He told Britain's The Daily Telegraph newspaper: "She told me she was planning to get on a flight to London as soon as possible."

The 56-year-old royal then insulted a representative of soft drinks company AG Barr, which is based in the town, by making a joke about the taste of their product Irn Bru.

She is said to have asked: "How can you be sure someone invented that drink? Wasn't it just a nasty surprise?"

Anne's behaviour has angered residents of the relatively new town - which was created in 1956 to accommodate the population overflow from Glasgow.

Jamie Hepburn, the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Central Scotland, said: "Her comments were just rude. If I was invited round to Buckingham Palace I certainly wouldn't say that I couldn't wait to get out of the place, even if it was true.

"Cumbernauld is a great place to live and there are hundreds of people queuing up to move here."

(C) BANG Media International